Major US Cities Going BANKRUPT! The USA is COLLAPSING From Within!

Major cities across the US are in financial trouble.

I think we can all agree on that we're broke.

We're seeing sales tax come down.

We're seeing business tax come down and stays in our hotels come down.

One study says that 53 of the largest cities in the United States haven't generated enough revenue to cover their bills.

In the heart of the American urban landscape, a fiscal storm is brewing, threatening to engulf cities from coast to coast in a tidal wave of financial ruin.

Beneath the gleaming facades of our nation's metropolises, a cancer of insolvency is spreading, eating away at the very foundations of municipal stability and leaving behind a trail of shattered budgets, crumbling infrastructure, and broken promises.

The signs are everywhere for those who care to look.

From boarded-up storefronts and potholed streets to shuttered libraries and understaffed police departments, the message is clear.

America's cities are going broke, and the consequences could be catastrophic.

The numbers are as staggering as they are sobering.

According to a 2022 report by the National League of Cities, of the over 900 municipalities surveyed, approximately 70% indicated their financial health has been negatively impacted by COVID-19, with 90% experiencing decreased revenues and 76% having to take on additional expenses.

This affects cities of all sizes, 89% of large cities, 71% of mid-sized cities, and 52% of small towns, indicated their governments will face significant challenges in providing necessary services to their residents.

This fiscal bloodletting has left many cities teetering on the brink of insolvency, struggling to provide even the most basic services to their residents.

In a survey conducted by the US Conference of Mayors in 2022, nearly half of all mayors reported that their cities were facing significant or very significant fiscal challenges, with many predicting that they would be unable to balance their budgets in the coming years without drastic cuts or tax increases.

The scope of the problem is vast and growing.

A 2023 analysis by the Pew Charitable Trust found that the total unfunded liabilities of state and local governments across the country had reached a staggering $1.5 trillion, up from $1.2 trillion just three years earlier.

It is more critical than ever that Congress remains in session this year and that our leaders in Washington step up to deliver the aid our municipal leaders have been seeking for months to avoid financial catastrophe in our nation's hometowns.

In this video, we will delve into the urgent need for federal assistance to support local governments across the United States.

We will explore the severe financial strain that cities and towns are currently facing due to the ongoing economic challenges.

The past several years have been challenging for America's cities, towns, and communities, but also full of opportunities and achievements.

Municipal governments across the United States are looking to rein in spending as pandemic-era stimulus dries up and inflation lingers longer than expected.

In the last two years, America's cities, towns, and communities have experienced some of the most dramatic fiscal downturns in their histories.

For some, the sudden drop in revenue stemming from the pandemic overshadowed even the most negative fiscal impacts of the Great Recession of 2008.

Now in its 37th year, the National League of Cities, or NLC's City Fiscal Conditions Report,

presents a snapshot of where cities are financially as they turn the page on the COVID-19 fiscal downturn and slowly but surely get back on their feet.

The human toll of this fiscal crisis is impossible to ignore.

In city after city, the signs of financial distress are evident in the fraying fabric of daily life.

Parks and playgrounds fall into disrepair as maintenance budgets are slashed to the bone.

Libraries and community centers close their doors as staff are laid off and programs are eliminated.

Another telltale sign of a city on the brink is a shrinking population and a contracting economy.

When jobs disappear and opportunities dry up, people vote with their feet, leaving behind a hollowed-out shell of a once thriving community.

This exodus can be seen in cities like Detroit, where the population has plummeted from a peak of 1.8 million in the 1950s to just over 700,000 today, or in Baltimore,

where the population has fallen by more than 35% since 1960.

As people leave, so too do businesses and tax revenues, exacerbating the cycle of decline and disrepair.

Police and fire departments struggle to keep up with rising crime and emergency calls as their ranks are thinned by hiring freezes and attrition.

And all the while, the most vulnerable residents, the poor, the elderly, and the disabled are left to fend for themselves as the social safety net is shredded by austerity and neglect.

The financial challenges within cities appear to be mounting despite high municipal credit ratings and robust demand for urban commodities like housing.

For example, New York City had a total public debt of $177.6 billion at the end of fiscal year 2022, according to researchers at Truth in Accounting.

That translates to a per capita taxpayer burden of $61,200, according to the group's analysis.

That estimate comes in higher than the one quoted by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who says the Big Apple has a public debt burden of roughly $96 billion in 2024, about $30 billion shy of the city's debt limit.

Research shows that 53% of the largest cities in the US were not generating enough revenue to pay their bills at the end of fiscal year 2022.

The list also highlights fiscal challenges facing cities like Chicago, Houston, and Portland, Oregon.

For instance, in a recent interview, the mayor of Houston, John Whitmire, delivered the hard, honest truth about the city of Houston's poor financial condition.

I think we can all agree on

that we're broke.

With an estimated current deficit of at least $160 million, Whitmire is exploring a 5% across-the-board cut to all aspects of city government, barring firefighters and police.

Some reports believe that unfounded pension obligations and retiree health benefits are straining municipal governments nationwide.

Detroit's 2013 municipal bankruptcy was a potent example of the potential effect when the city temporarily suspended pension payments to pump more cash into reserves.

In the meantime, rising debts may lead to dirtier streets, fewer public services, and tough decisions from public officials to make ends meet.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has introduced a program to eliminate the gap, which called for three separate 5% city program spending cuts that will affect services including sanitation, library access, public education, stewardship of jails, and more.

But how did the United States find itself in such a precarious situation?

How did the richest, most powerful nation on Earth find itself in a situation where its cities are literally crumbling from within?

The answers are complex and varied, but a few key factors stand out.

First and foremost, many cities have simply been living beyond their means for far too long.

For decades, municipal governments have been making promises to their workers and their residents that they simply cannot afford to keep.

In an era of historically low interest rates, many cities took on massive amounts of debt to finance everything from infrastructure projects to pension obligations.

However, as interest rates have begun to rise in recent years, the cost of servicing that debt has skyrocketed, leaving many cities struggling to keep up.

According to a 2023 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, state and local government debt has more than doubled since 2008, reaching a staggering $17.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2023.

As interest rates continue to climb, many cities finding themselves in a fiscal vice squeeze between rising costs and shrinking revenue.

Another major factor is runaway spending.

For years, many cities have been living beyond their means, spending more than they take in and relying on a combination of debt, one-time revenues, and creative accounting to balance their budgets.

But as the bills come due and the money runs out, the consequences of this short-sighted approach are becoming all too clear.

In Chicago, for example, the city's pension obligations have ballooned to more than $35 billion, consuming a growing share of the budget and crowding out other essential services.

Similarly, in San Francisco, the cost of employee salaries and benefits has more than doubled since 2000, even as the city has struggled to address a mounting homelessness crisis and other pressing needs.

But perhaps the most insidious factor behind the urban fiscal crisis is the simple fact that in many cases, the people in charge of managing municipal finances have been asleep at the wheel.

Mismanagement and corruption have also played a role in the financial woes of many cities.

Too often, city leaders have been more concerned with short-term political gain than long-term fiscal stability, making decisions based on what will get them re-elected rather than what will keep their cities solvent in the long run.

From sweetheart deals for politically connected contractors to outright embezzlement and fraud, the misuse of public funds has left many cities on the brink of ruin.

This has led to a culture of kick-the-can-down-the-road budgeting, where tough choices are put off until tomorrow, and the real costs of government are hidden behind a veil of accounting gimmicks and one-time revenue tricks.

In 2019, the former mayor of Baltimore, Catherine Pugh, was sentenced to three years in federal prison for her role in a children's book scandal that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Similarly, in Detroit, a series of corrupt administrations and financial missteps led to the city's historic bankruptcy filing in 2013, which left retirees and bondholders facing steep cuts to their pensions and investments.

The consequences of municipal insolvency are not just financial, but also social and political.

When cities go broke, it is often the most vulnerable residents who suffer the most, as essential services like public safety, education, and healthcare are cut to the bone.

In 2022, the city of Oakland, California announced plans to close several fire stations and lay off more than 100 police officers, even as the city grappled with a surge in violent crime and a growing homeless population.

Similarly, in Chicago, the city's public school system has been forced to slash budgets and lay off teachers, even as class sizes swell and academic performance lags.

Also, generous pension and healthcare benefits, ambitious infrastructure projects, and expansive social programs have all taken their toll, leaving cities with massive long-term liabilities that they are now struggling to fund.

In many cases, these promises were made during times of economic boom and rising property values when the money seemed like it would never run out.

But as the economy has cooled and tax revenues have stagnated, the chickens have come home to roost, leaving cities with a mountain of debt and no clear way to pay it off.

Compounding these challenges is the impact of immigration on many cities' finances.

While immigration can bring much needed vitality and diversity to urban communities, it can also strain public services and budgets, particularly in cities that are already struggling to make ends meet.

While many services are essential for immigrant communities' well-being, they can also put additional pressure on already stretched budgets.

The total fiscal burden of illegal immigrants on taxpayers amounted to a total of $150.7 billion as of 2023.

This net cost of illegal immigration is greater than the annual gross domestic product or GDP of 15 different states.

Illegal immigration costs every American taxpayer a net average of $956 or $1,156 before the taxes paid by illegal aliens are factored in.

These costs also represent a substantial increase from previous studies.

a 2021 lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's deportation moratorium, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wrote that his state alone was required to pay anywhere between $62 to $90 million per year to cover illegal aliens under its emergency Medicaid program, and that was before the last several years of mass illegal immigration into Texas.

It's worth noting that these problems tend to be more common in cities and states with liberal leadership and policies.

While fiscal challenges can affect communities of all political stripes, there is evidence to suggest that progressive policies like high taxes, generous public sector benefits, and heavy regulation can exacerbate financial strains over time.

A 2022 study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University indicates that the accumulation of rules over the past several decades has slowed economic growth.

amounting to an estimated $4 trillion loss in US GDP in 2012.

Consequently, states with higher levels of economic freedom, as measured by factors like tax burden and labor market flexibility, tend to have stronger fiscal health and lower levels of debt and unfunded liabilities.

This is not to suggest that conservative policies are a panacea for urban fiscal woes or that all liberal cities are doomed to insolvency, but it does underscore the importance of sound fiscal management, responsible budgeting, and a focus on long-term sustainability over short-term political gains.

The fiscal crisis facing American cities is not just a matter of budgets and balance sheets.

It is a crisis that threatens to undermine the promise of opportunity and prosperity that has long been at the heart of the American dream and to leave behind a legacy of decay and despair for generations to come.

For American policymakers, there is no better time for action than now.

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